1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved architecture and method for designing and generating online stationery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Web-based systems for designing stationery such as wedding invitations, birth announcements, birthday party invitations, etc, are currently available over the Internet. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in current Web-based systems, a template designer 110 creates a static design template 120 for each type of stationery. The static design template 120 includes a plurality of text box regions 121, 122, 124 representing locations where text is to be displayed and potentially one or more image regions 124 representation locations where images uploaded by the user are to be displayed.
The static design template 120 is personalized via a Web-based user interface 130 made accessible to end users 111 over the Internet. The Web-based interface typically takes the form of a Web page which is downloaded to a client computer of the end user 111. The Web page includes a plurality of text entry fields 131, 132, 134 which correspond to the text box regions 121, 122, 124 within the design template, respectively. The Web page may also include one or more image entry fields 133 corresponding to the image regions 123 of the static design template 120. Images may be uploaded to the image entry field 133 and positioned within the image region 123 of the design template 120.
One problem with the current Web-based systems from a design perspective is that they lack flexibility. For example, a new static design template must be created in order to provide each new type of stationery (e.g., a new birth announcement, wedding invitation, etc). Moreover, from the user's perspective, current approaches do not provide guidance on appropriate text to enter into the text entry fields or how the text should be formatted. In addition, it is difficult to store the text entered by the user in one design and apply it to another design because the layout of the text and formatting in terms of font, color and size are different.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved system for designing and generating online stationery.